Well packer



June 17, 1930. P, F., YUNGLING WELL PACKER Filed March 24, 1928 Patented June 17, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFIC PAUL I. Y'UNGLING, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO SCOTT-BOSS AND COMPANY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A. CORPORATION OF DELAWARE WELL PAOKER Application filed March 24, 1928. Serial No. 264,302.

This invention relates to well packers of the type employed, for example, in oil and other wells and an object of the invention is to provide a packer that is both effective in use and readily releasable when it becomesnecessary to pull the pump tubing.

Packers employed at the present time in oil wells are made of rubber and such packers adhere ver tightly to the wall of the casing or other tu ular member in which the packer is placed. Accordingly, when rubber packers are employed and it is desired to remove the member on which the packer is mounted, there is great ditficulty in loosening the packer so as to admit of the removal of said member. One of the important objects of the present invention is to provide a packer of this type that will readily disintegrate when the member upon which it is mounted is pulled upwardly, thus avoiding sticking of the packer and consequent difficulty in withdrawing the member on which 1t is mounted.

Further ob'ects and advantages will appear in the su joined detailed description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a broken elevation, partly in section, of a construction embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of the upper portion of Figure 1, the relatively movable packer elements being shown in the positions they occupy while the packer is being lowered into position.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 excepting that the relatively movable packer elements are in the positions they occupy when the packer is in packing position.

Figure 4 is an enlarged horizontal View, partlyin section, from the line indicated by 4-4, Figure 1.

Figure 5 1s an enlarged fragmental view of the-packing.

Referring to the drawlngs, the two tubular members between which the packing is done are indicated at 6, 7, the member 6 being inside of the member 7 and concentric therewith. In this instance, the member is provided with an enlargement 8 terminating at end of a packer element 11. The packer element 11 is tubular and another tubular packer element is indicated at 12. The packer elements 11, 12 are relatively movable excepting when they are held against relative movement as will be disclosed more fully hereinafter. with an annular shoulder 13 between which and the upper end 14 of the element 12 is positioned disintegratable packing which is indicated, in general, by the character 15. Element 12, which may be made in sections, if desired, is sufliciently long to extend to the bottom of the well in which the packer is placed and the lower end of the element 12 may be provided with a shoe 16 adapted to rest on the bottom of the Well bore. In this instance, the shoe 16 is screwed onto the element 12. The different sections of the element 12 may be connected by screw threads threads 18 adapted to be engaged by external screw threads 19 on the lower end of the element 11. In this particular instance, the screw threads 19 are formed on a separately constructed ring 20 of the element 11 for I convenience of manufacture and assembly. When the packer is being lowered into the well, the screw threads 18, 19 will be in engagement-so as to hold the elements 11, 12 against relative motion, thus to prevent compression of the packing 15. The screw threads 18, 19 are right hand threads so that disengagement thereof may be effected by turning the tubular member 6 in a right hand direction. This avoids any tendency to unscrewing of any screw threaded joints in the member 6. In this instance, the member 6 constitutes the pump tubing and the member 7, the well casing. The enlargement 8 is connected with the element 11, to efl'eet unscrewing of the element 11 from the element 12, as mentioned above, and the connection in this instance, is a threaded one as indicated at 201.. The packing 15 is of special construction and comprises an inner body 21 formed of metallic packing, and a stockingette or casing 22 of textile material which encascs the metallic packing. The packing 15 may be made in the form of a long rope which may be wound spirally around the element 11.

in lowering the packer into the well, it is necessary to protect the packing 15 from coming into contact with the wall of the tubular member 7 so as to prevent wear and rupture of the casing 22 and this is accomplished by providing the element 11 with a relatively thin wall'23 which constitutes a sleeve that covers the recess 24 in which the packing 15 lies. The sleeve 23 is constructed of suitable material such, for example, as thin sheet copper or brass and. the upper end of said sleeve is seated against an annular shoulder 25 on the element 11. It is to be understood that the sleeve 23 is sufficiently thin so that it is quite flexible in order that, if it remains intact, it will closely engage the inner surface of the member 7 so that fluid will be unable to pass between the sleeve and the member 7.

Connected to the pump tubing 6 is a pump which is indicated in general by the character 26. 'This pump may be of the fiuid operated. type disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 288,691, filed June 27, 1928, said pump being operated by a power fluid inducted to the pump through the tubular member 6 and the liquid'being forced by the pump upwardly into the space that lies between the members 6, 7. Thus, with this type of packing-because of its effectiveness, it is possible to operate my fluid operated pump by employing only two tubular members extending into the well, the outer one being the well casing and the inner one being a string of macaroni as it is ordinarily termed in this art.

To install the invention, the tubular member 6 with the packer attached thereto and with the screw threads 18, 19 engaged, will be lowered into the well until the shoe 16 strikes the bottom of the well bore. The member 6 will thenbe rotated in the appropriate direction, clockwise in this instance, to unscrew the element 11 from the element 12,

turning of the element 12 being prevented by reason of the frictional contact between the shoe 16 and the formation. As soon as the elements 11, 12 are thus released, the weight of the member 6 causes the element 11 to descend upon the packing 15, thus, compressing said packing heightwise, and expanding said packing radially. The pressure may be so great as to'rupture the casing 22 but whether this occurs or not the pressure will distort the metallic packing sothat outward pressure of the packing along the inner face of the sleeve 23 will be substantially uniform,

thus forcing the sleeve 23 tightly against the inner face of the member 7. The sleeve 23 being flexible will conform to the interior face of the member 7 regardless of the roughness or unevenness of said face. Under some conditions, the sleeve 23 may even be ruptured by the great outward pressure but, even so, the metallic packing will flow into any openings or crevices that may be formed in the ruptured sleeve 23, thus tightly packing the space between the-members 6, 7 at the level of the packer. When the elements 11, 12 are unscrewed and the pressure forces the element 11 downwardly to compress the packing, the parts are in the positions shown in Figure 3.

"W hen it is desired to remove the packer the member 6 will be raised, thus bringing the ring 20 into engagement with the element 12.

As the member 6 rises the sleeve 23 is worn through or tornaway by the severe friction it undergoes by reason of contact with the 'rough, inner surface of the member 7, thus exposing the casing 22, also, to rubbing upon said inner surface thus quickly destroying the casing 22 unless, of course, the casing was previously destroyed when the packer was set. This places the metallic packing body 21 in direct contact with the inner face of the member 7 and continued upward movement of the element 11 drags the metallic packing against the inner face of the member 7 and causes rapid disintegration of said metallic packing. The disintegrated packing sifts downwardly between the inner face of the member 7 and the outer face of the element 12 so that very quickly all friction of the packing upon the member 7 is removed and the member 6 with attached packer elements 11, 12 is then quickly withdrawn from the well.

From the foregoing it will be readily understood that important features of the inyention are the disintegratable, metallic packing and the relatively thin sleeve that, in lowering the packer into place, prevents abrasive action upon the metallic packing body.

1 claim:

A well packer comprising two relatively movable elements, a metallic packing body between said elements, and a sleeve of relatively thin metal secured at one end to one of said elements and extending over the outer face of the metallic packing body and in telescoping relation with the other of said elements.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 14th day of February, 1928.

' PAUL F. YUNGLING. 

